Parking when there are dogs around

[TheQuirkyMaker]

I was in our local park yesterday, talking to another dog owner, when an SUV swept in right beside us, halted, and reversed into a parking space. As it reversed, I slapped it on the roof. The driver jumped out, angry, and I think was ready to give me a slap. I said the car park was empty (it was, it serves about 200 cars) and he had no need to park next to us and potentially hit a dog. He said he was parking near the skate park for his children, and our dogs should be on a lead (they weren't). They are elderly, obedient little dogs, and don't need to be on a leash but they are little and could be hit by a car.
I told him to "F--- Off" and felt okay at the time but couldn't sleep last night for worrying who was in the right.
Was I the unreasonable one?

And that allows OP to be violent (banging on someone’s car) and verbally aggressive in front of children?

If she was stood in the middle of a road chatting with her dog wandering around off a lead (that incidentally can’t hear cars) would you think the same? She could have stood chatting on a path with her dog on a lead like a normal reasonable person

The guy did nothing wrong
Besides in your eyes being a man

Eh? Can you not see you're the entitled one in this scenario?

You think your dog is entitled to protection from other road users, but don't provide that protection yourself by putting it on a lead.

You think you're entitled to park next to the entrance of the park, but that other park users aren't.

You think you're entitled to take out your irrational aggression on a stranger, possibly damaging his car and very likely frightening his children and ruining their trip to the park, because you're upset that your dog is getting old. You have no idea what the other people in the car might be going through!

You sound awful, OP. I'd be furious if someone had ruined my children's trip with this behaviour

1. No 'maybe' about it, you were completely in the wrong.
2. . Its a car park, he can park where he wants.
3. Your dog should not have been wandering around off lead in a car park. If it had been injured or worse, that would have been on you.
4. Hitting his car and telling him to fuck off...? You got off lightly.

This can't be real. How entitled, rude and frankly stupid would someone have to be to do that and then post on MN, clearly expecting to be told that she wasn't being unreasonable at all.

If you think your dog is at risk of running in front of a car you need to keep them on a lead. My DS has no road safety awareness, I keep hold of him rather than expecting cars to not pull up near us.

No problem with men. This one was obviously an entitled lazy idiot, though.

A car park is a car park. Not an extension of the dog park. One of my dogs is also older but I always have her on a lead, especially where cars can potentially drive. Also why the hell did you hit his car? No wonder he was angry.

Saying this as an extreme dog lover.

You can't dictate where people park or how they drive because you have dogs. The onus is on YOU to keep them safe, not drivers.

This post is mad. I say this as a dog owner who loves walking dogs off lead. When I'm in a bloody car park, they're on a lead.

I also wonder how your friend felt in this scenario. You should apologise for dragging them into this situation through your lack of self control. How embarrassing!

Do you really think that the driver selected the best space to park in? For HIMSELF perhaps. Not for the pedestrians.

It is genuine. I just don't know if I was right or wrong.
You were wrong, HTH.

You can't go round smacking peoples cars and telling them to fuck off when they have parked in a parking space they are completely allowed to park in! You are sounding increasingly unhinged.

But she wasn’t safe. If she was you wouldn’t have been hitting the car in misplaced anger. Why did you allow her to be off lead in a car park. Why didn’t you react sooner as it approached.

I have well behaved dogs with excellent recall but they go back on leads well before car parks or roads so I’m never in this situation.

he can park wherever he wants. Can’t believe you slapped his car!

Must admit I didn't know not parking near other cars in an empty car park was a 'thing'. I regularly stop off with my dogs at a local playing field on my way back from the school run and just park next to the other dog walkers right by the entrance, even though there's a whole empty car park I could park in. It never occurred to me that that was in any way weird.

@TheQuirkyMaker what did the other dog owner do/say? Did he or she agree with your actions?

This has to be a wind up!

Yes, very sad, but nothing at all to do with the point in question.

You were not unreasonable to think he could have parked a little farther away, but totally unreasonable to say things like he reversed without looking (how do you know?) or imply that he was trying to harm your dog. Maybe he wanted to be as near the skatepark as possible so he could stay in his car but still keep an eye on his children.

In any case, by banging on his car like an idiot with road rage you immediately put yourself in the wrong. That was just likely to frighten his children and make him jump with shock and cause an accident.

It’s not weird - in anyway.

I'm a dog owner/lover but it's still a big YABU from me. He can park where he likes, and your dog needs to be on a lead in a car park.

You're just a horrible human being by the sounds of it.hittibg people's cars, saying you want to punch them, shouting at them, saying they were a cunt and the whole time you were the completely unreasonable, aggressive and entitled one.
I hate that the world has so many people like you....

And the way you behave has nothing to do with your dog dying so stop trying to use that to excuse yourself, poor dog though

It’s a CAR park. He parked his CAR. In a designated CAR parking spot. It’s not a let your old deaf dog wander around off a lead whist you chat spot.

hes done absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever

If he’d bumped it up the kerb and driven across the grass and left it there maybe - but he didn’t, did he?

No, he was inconsiderate to park and reverse in where he did (near to people standing with dogs). He should have chosen a space further away from the pedestrians.

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean that you should.

No, you're right there O.P. I don't think your company would have enriched his day.

The driver can park (legally) anywhere he likes in a public car park.
He wanted to park as near as possible to where he (and his children) wanted to get to - again perfectly legally - the driver has no responsibility for where people choose to stand in a car park or if those people are stupid enough to let their elderly and deaf dogs wander about a car park off the lead.
Why does the type of car matter or do you just "tut" at anyone with a nice car (better car than you?) and assume they are entitled ?
Finally what has someone parking perfectly normally in a public car park got to do with your perceived issues around parking at the local school - if your children are endangered by poor parking at the school, report it to the school and the local council traffic enforcement team and they'll sort it out.
If I was parking my car and some mad old bat with a couple of mangy old dogs told me to "fuck off" in front of my children they'd get a response in kind back.

There's no "should" about it. Yes it would have been better for OP if he parked further away, but it was clearly better for him to park where he did. OP's needs/wants don't trump his.